Rough Guide 25's: USA Book

If you are going to Yellowstone, you need to buy this book. I repeat, you need to buy this book. Well, I guess you don't have to, but if you want to understand the geysers and get the most out of your trip, this book is a must. It comprehensively details every single geyser in the park, noting how often, how long, and how high each one erupts. Each geyser has a description, too, noting important features in the geyser's history. The histories can be amazingly comprehensive, detailing individual anomalous eruptions, or in some cases of very rare geysers, every known eruption in the geyser's history.

This book was my companion on the boardwalks from the time I picked it up at a visitor's center to the time I left the park. It was tremendously valuable for knowing whether I should stay at a geyser for a while to wait for it to erupt, or just move on. There are so many geysers that it's impossible to know which are worth waiting for without a reference guide like this. For example, Anemone Geyser on Geyser Hill erupts roughly every 10 minutes. Without a guide like this book, you would probably walk right by it if you didn't happen on an eruption. But waiting that short time is worth it.

I did have a few minor quibbles with the book, though. This book is called the Geysers of Yellowstone, not the Hot Springs of Yellowstone, and that is reflected in the text. I understand that listing every hot spring in the park would make this book much longer (and more boring), but at least some recognition and details about the largest ones would be nice. Numbering them on the maps would make it easier to locate interesting features in the park, even if they aren't geysers. I would have also appreciated more pictures, especially of dense features like the Fountain Complex or the Giant Platform. There are so many features there it can be hard to tell them apart. A labeled picture would be hugely helpful. The maps are great, but sometimes in these dense regions I was unsure which feature belonged to which geyser. Additional descriptions of the physical appearance of each geyser would help here, too.

These are minor defects in an otherwise fantastic resource, though. This book was invaluable to me in my trip to Yellowstone, and when I return I will be sure to bring this book (or the newest edition at the time, since the features can change so rapidly). It is well worth getting, and especially for carrying around the boardwalks. I really can't say enough about how helpful this book was. If you want to get the most out of a trip to Yellowstone, you need to get this book.